Black Gold: The History of How Coal Made Britain

Product Information

It takes seven gallons of gasoline per person -- man, woman, and child -- to run the country each day. this story takes readers into the harsh world of professional horse racing, with its stark risks and grim realities. Lyrical, empowering, and inspiring. An affirmation of the miracle each individual is.” —Yamile Saied Méndez, author of Where Are You From? and What Will You Be?

I'm not sure but I think so. As is quoted here, Heseltine opined that all he had done was shut down a dirty, dangerous industry and there is some truth to that I think. However, the cavalier attitude to mining and the mining communities that fueled the Industrial Revolution was despicable and its reverberations continue to this day. Those that dug coal out of deep mines gave their health and often their lives to make a few people incredibly rich, and to propel the UK to make an Empire that was magnificent if you where a beneficiary of Imperialism, but vile for everyone else. I got that from the book but somehow felt it was, if anything, understated here. I don't even know where to begin with this. Maybe I should start with the fact that I wouldn't have read this had it not been a Battle of the Books book, and even then, it was one I was forced to read because no one else wanted to. I really wish that I could have turned around and said that this book wasn't as bad as every thought, but, sadly, that is not the case. Readers learn about renewable energy, like wind, solar, and hydro. See Ted Trainer’s book, Renewable Energy Cannot Sustain a Consumer Society . Learn about the significant shortcomings of the various types of alternative energy. Discover why no combination of them will ever come anywhere close to replacing the energy now provided by fossil fuel. Discover why we will not enjoy a smooth and painless transition to a sustainable, renewable energy future.As Marrin points out, no solution will come easily or cheaply. He concludes the story of oil in our lives with a look at some of the options...and tough choices...we have. It wasn't an exhaustive history and some aspects were dwelt on for longer than others - naval developments had much more coverage than railways and I was surprised that the traditional birthplace of the industrial revolution in Shropshire didn't get much of a mention. The technological developments were nonetheless covered in detail, along with the experience of working in mines (I had no idea there was a ballot for soldiers to work in the mines during wartime) and the changes in legislation and ownership of the UK industry. Out of sight, out of mind. And in the minds of those who did think about it, the suffering was more or less a necessary evil – because, as Orwell himself put it, “the machines that keep us alive, and the machines that make the machines, are all directly or indirectly dependent upon coal”. Or, in the blustery rhetoric of Lloyd George, appealing to striking miners during the First World War: “In peace and in war King Coal is the paramount Lord of industry.”

The involvement and descriptions of the politicians that are part of the story of coal are dealt with in a very Paxmanesque style and I loved this. At the heart of the book, inevitably, lies a political story. Paxman gives a lucid account of the growing demands for better conditions, the counterarguments of the pit owners, the protests and strikes, and the eventual major legal changes: the shift to national ownership of coal underground in 1938, and the complete nationalisation of the industry in 1947. The town buzzed with excitement, and smelled to high heaven, thanks to all that oil. 'The whole place,' a visitor said, 'smelled like a corps of soldiers when they have diarrhea.'" It is exciting to me that no matter how much machinery replaces the horse, the work it can do is still measured in horsepower ... even in the new age. And although a riding horse often weighs half a ton and a big drafter a full ton, either can be led about by a piece of string if he has been wisely trained. This to me is a constant source of wonder and challenge." This quote was from an article about Henry published in the Washington Post on November 28, 1997, in response to a query about her drive to write about horses.

In Saudi Arabia, the Wahhabis are a sect that perceives most of modernity as pure evil. They don’t look fondly on the lavish lifestyles of the ruling Saud family. Marrin asserts that the government agreed to subsidize the spread of Wahhabi schools into other regions. In exchange for this funding, the Wahhabis agreed not to make trouble in Arabia — but trouble anywhere else was OK. “In short, Saudi oil profits fueled terrorism.” We learn that it was because of the eighteenth century need for bright and safe lighting fuel, and because of the rapidly depleting supply of whales for whale oil, and because it was discovered that kerosene could be extracted from petroleum, that smart and ambitious "Colonel" Edwin L. Drake was hired by a business group to drill for oil on Oil Creek in Titusville, Pennsylvania (a stream known for its oil seeps). As we all know, oil has been a benefit to this world, while at the same time being the cause of some of the worst nightmares, wars, and agony that we’ve ever seen. In many ways, most people on this planet wish that oil had never been found; if so, perhaps we would not be in the situation economically or socially that we are in right now. From that glad, confident morning onwards, the story is one of managed, or mismanaged, decline. In the 1960s, under the Labour politician Alf Robens, the number of pits fell from nearly 700 to 292, and the number of miners was slashed, from 583,000 to 283,000. Much of this was inevitable, as railways shifted to diesel, and electricity generation moved to oil, gas and nuclear. King Coal had been dethroned.

Marguerite Henry (April 13, 1902-November 26, 1997) was an American writer. The author of fifty-nine books based on true stories of horses and other animals, her work has captivated entire generations of children and young adults and won several Newbery Awards and Honors. Among the more famous of her works was Misty of Chincoteague, which was the basis for the 1961 movie Misty, and several sequel books.

From the bestselling historian and acclaimed broadcaster

Over 798 images including almost every JPS related vehicle Race results for all John Player Team Lotus races Fred Cahir tells the story about the magnitude of Aboriginal involvement on the Victorian goldfields in the middle of the nineteenth century. Elegantly written and often very funny, this book is studded with acidic character sketches. The footnotes alone are worth reading and tell us, for example, that London’s remaining 1,300 gas lamps are tended by four lighters who travel on motorbikes. At times, Paxman’s capacity to combine confident generalisation with vivid detail reminded me of A J P Taylor, though I suspect that this might be partly because some of his historical knowledge does, in fact, derive from Taylor’s work. Paxman also has a Taylor-esque propensity to skate over awkward complexities that might slow the pace of the narrative. In 1947, she published Misty of Chincoteague and it was an instant success. Later, this book—as well as Justin Morgan had a Horse and Brighty of the Grand Canyon—were made into movies. Inspired by a true story, Marguerite Henry continues her literary tradition of showcasing a love of horse (and mule) flesh for young